Britain’s economy is cooling fast, according to the latest surveys of the services, manufacturing and construction sectors, bolstering expectations that the Bank of England will leave interest rates at their record low for the rest of this year and beyond.

Coming days before Philip Hammond’s spring budget, the figures add to evidence that the economic strength seen in after the Brexit vote, which put the UK’s GDP growth in the front rank of developed nations, is now faltering.

The financial data provider Markit, which compiled the surveys, said the slowing of business activity growth last month added to evidence that the economy has lost momentum after the “impressive expansion” at the end of last year.

Firms remained optimistic about the year ahead, but Markit’s chief economist, Chris Williamson, said: “The slowdown in the pace of economic growth signalled by the February surveys pushes the PMI [purchasing managers’ index] back towards territory more indicative of additional policy stimulus from the Bank of England than a tightening.

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“Policymakers are therefore likely to continue to stress the need to look through any further upturn in inflation and focus instead on the need to keep policy accommodative in the face of a likely further slowing in the pace of economic growth in 2017.”

Threadneedle Street recently upgraded its growth forecasts for 2017, leading many analysts to predict that interest rates could start to rise towards the end of the year. But the slowdown in the first two months appears to show the economy could now struggle to hit the Bank’s 2% growth forecast, further delaying the first interest rate rise since 2007.

Nevertheless, the underlying strength of production and output across all the sectors in the second half of last year means the economy will continue to grow, prompting the Office for Budget Responsibility to pencil in higher growth than it had expected after the Brexit vote, allowing the chancellor to reduce his borrowing forecasts.

Last autumn Hammond was expecting to borrow £68bn in 2016-17, but the OBR is now expected to reduce this by at least £10bn, close to the level predicted before the Brexit vote.

The chancellor could add this saving to a £27bn war chest he expects to achieve by 2020, or spend some of it to ease concerns that the social care system, health service and prisons are at breaking point.

He is expected to use some of the funds to alleviate the worst effects of previous departmental budget cuts, but keep most of the funds for what he has cast as his main budget in the autumn.

The Markit poll of purchasing managers in the services sector reflected similar surveys from the manufacturing and construction industries that showed firms were continuing to expand output and hire workers, but inflationary pressures from the rising cost of imported raw materials was making them wary of putting their foot on the accelerator.

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The services PMI remained in expansion mode during February at 53.3 – down from 54.5 in January, though still well above the 50.0 threshold that separates growth from contraction.

Markit said the slowdown mainly reflected a softer pace of new business growth, with some respondents citing more cautious spending among consumers.

“Business confidence nonetheless remained strong, with service providers indicating that optimism was little changed from the post-referendum high recorded at the start of this year,” it said.

Simon Wells, chief European economist at HSBC, said: “Against a backdrop of wage growth rising only slowly, the sharp rise in inflation resulting from the oil price rise and sterling depreciation over the past year or so is weighing on consumer finances and spending power.

“With significant Brexit uncertainty still remaining, we do not expect a rise in investment will be able to compensate for slowing growth in the consumer sector,” he added.

Weaker order books contrasted with a buoyant picture in Europe and the rest of the world. Growth of eurozone economic output accelerated to a near-six-year high in February of 56.0, up from 54.4 in January, according to the Markit composite PMI.